A saintly, impressive figure claims to be God, the creator of mankind. He offers Koenig and his companions a new Earth, a new Eden, where life can begin again. But who is he really? What are the fantastic powers he possesses? ITC summary

The spinning light effect is the same as Dragon's Domain (which was also accompanied by wind).

New Earth is represented by a blue monochrome version of a photograph of Earth taken by Apollo 11 during its translunar insertion on 16th July 1969, about 98,000 nautical miles from Earth. The same picture is used as Luton in Rules Of Luton. Thanks to Marcus Lindroos.

Originally the SFX crew intended to use stop motion for the cave animals, but time and expense forced them to use the small lizards (they have green and yellow mottling with black stripes on their back).

This is the only Year 2 episode with incidental music from a library (How Beautiful Is Night by Robert Farnon, played during the campfire scene, 3 minutes 59 seconds). There are also Beethoven extracts in One Moment Of Humanity and Bringers of Wonder part 2.

History

Magus is the singular of Magi, the Latinized form of Maogi, an ancient Greek transliteration of the original Iranian word. The word is the root of the English word "magic". The Magi were the priestly caste of Zoroastria in ancient Media and Persia. They were reputed to possess supernatural powers. The New Testament (Matthew) says the wise men who visit the infant Christ were Magi.

"I was Simon Magus, who offered to buy the Nazarene's powers from his Apostles." The story is Acts chapter 8 and 9.

"I was Merlin." The magician in Arthurian legend is derived from several figures in Celtic mythology, especially the Welsh magician Myrddin.

"I was Nostradamus" Michel de Nostrame (1503-1566) was a French doctor who wrote a book called "Centuries" in 1555 predicting the future. Some people have interpreted his highly obscure and vague verses as predicting world war II and catastrophic events in 1999.

"I was the magician in Ancient Egypt who contested in magic with Moses." The reference is Exodus chapter 7 to chapter 9. The Pharaoh summons a group of Egyptian magicians and sorcerers to reproduce the miracles of Moses and Aaron. They succeeded in turning their staffs into snakes, the Nile into blood and created a plague of frogs, but they cannot duplicate a plague of gnats and are then themselves afflicted with terrible boils.

Technology

The light decelerator sounds like a solar cell, which converts light into electricity. Slowing light down is easy but brings no particular benefits. James Maxwell showed in the 1800s that the speed of light depends on the square root of the ratio of the electric and magnetic permeabilities of a particular medium. Thus it travels about 30% slower through glass. In 1998 Dr. Lene Hau prepared a Bose-Einstein condensate by cooling sodium atoms to less than 1 billionth of a degree above Absolute Zero. The index of refraction was so high inside this new state of matter that the speed of light inside it was about 38 miles/hour.

The magnetic field cocoons would not just repel Koenig from Helena but would attract (not in a romantic sense) Koenig to Maya- and Tony.

The secret of the creation of life is more likely to be found in proto-Earth conditions, not in advanced mammals (unless he is actually interested in reproduction).

His powers are strangely limited- he can stop a planet breaking apart but strains to stop Alan's Eagle taking off.

Aliens:

Footage:

When the stun gun magically transports from Koenig to Magus, a bare arm is briefly seen moving out of frame, having placed the gun in Magus's palm. This is cut from the Network 2015 Blu-ray release, but appeared on all previous releases.
Another change made in the restoration (more minor and less objectionable) is the addition of Tony's laser beam in the caves (see observations)

After his gun disappears, Koenig looks at his empty hand and lowers his arm. When the gun reappears, he is posed precisely the same as when the gun disappeared. Thanks to Martin Daoust.

The influences are the Eden legend, here as a positive story (mankind asserts his independence), and H G Wells Dr Moreau, a man who played god by creating animals.

It also strongly recalls the 1967 Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?", featuring a god-like being who addresses the crew as "beloved children" and insists selected members stay on his planet to worship him. After zapping someone, he retreats to another side of the planet to recover. The crew escape by destroying the energy source that gives him great powers.

Magus calls religion "works of fiction" and the message of the story is anti-religious, but he takes his name from Zoroastrian priests and his previous "incarnations" have tried to find the secrets of the Judeo-Christian god.

Both Martin Landau and Guy Rolfe both played the role of the High Priest Caiaphas. Rolfe played him in the 1961 film King of Kings and Landau played him in the 1965 film The Greatest Story Ever Told. Thanks to Chris Moore.